Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - Ohio State is actively monitoring the security context in Israel. Over the past 24 hours, the university has been in contact with colleagues in Israel, OSAC security analysts from the U.S. Department of State, HTH Drum, Ohio State's insurance security provider, and peer U.S. institutions that also have students in Israel at this time.

Much of this recent outreach activity was sparked by the tragic news that a U.S. MBA student from Vanderbilt University was killed in Jaffa on March 8. Based on news and information gathered, the U.S. Department of State has no information to suggest that the U.S. national was specifically targeted.

Ohio State has been in communication with our current student travelers and faculty leaders of upcoming programs to Israel and all are on schedule to continue. All Ohio State programming to Israel followed the university’s operating procedures for student travel to risk-designated countries, which was subject to petition and review by the International Travel Policy Committee (ITPC) and received authorization by the Office of the Provost. Safeguards and restrictions are built into program approvals.

The ITPC, Office of International Affairs and the Office of Risk Management will continue to monitor the situation in Israel, providing pertinent updates to travelers and informing the campus community of any potential changes in university travel.